Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Mario Draghi the 64 year old Italian banker, economist and President of the European Central Bank has told European politicians that they should do a lot more to tackle the debt crisis, according to an Aljazeera article. The article states “He says the current setup is unsustainable and has urged member states to take immediate action towards developing a clear vision for the next few years. …warn[ing] that the structure of the euro currency union has become unsustainable and criticised political leaders, who, he said, had been slow to respond to a European debt crisis now well into its third year. “Can the ECB fill the vacuum or lack of action by national governments on the structural front? And again the answer is no, structural reforms don’t have much to do with monetary policy,” Draghi said, adding: “Can the ECB fill the vacuum left by the lack of euro area governance? And the answer is no. So, let’s ask: What can we do now? What is the next step? The next step is basically for our leaders to clarify what is the vision for a certain number of years from now.” …All of this has taken a toll on the value of the euro currency. It fell to its lowest level in almost two years against the dollar.”

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/bJhPY image source World Economic Forum ow.ly/bJhwz

Georgios A. Papandreou the 59 year old Prime Minister of Greece from a long standing political dynasty having offered to step down to enable a coalition approach to the debt crisis confronting the nation, has vowed to proceed in his role after a poll indicating 77% of the Greek people have no faith in his handling of the economic crisis. Greece has experienced violent protests near the parliament at Syntagma square in Athens, where tens of thousands of activists and unionists have been gathering to protest the austerity measures introduced by the Greek government to combat the worsening crisis that threatens the economy with its debt of 12.7% GDP and an unemployment rate of 10%. Papandreou had faced a revolt in his socialist Pasok party over the package of austerity measures.

Inspired by Rachel Cooper ow.ly/5lDn9 image source ΠΑΣΟΚ ow.ly/5lDum